The "Negro Problem," the "Mormon Problem," and the Pursuit of "Usefulness" in the White American Republic
By examining Booker T. Washington's (little studied) relationship with Mormon elites, this article introduces the category of "usefulness" to scholars who investigate how racially and religiously marginalized Americans have sought acceptance in the "white American republic."...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[2019]
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| In: |
Church history
Year: 2019, Volume: 88, Issue: 4, Pages: 978-1012 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Washington, Booker T. 1856-1915
/ USA
/ Mormon Church
/ Blacks
/ Whites
/ Hegemony
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| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBQ North America KDH Christian sects |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | By examining Booker T. Washington's (little studied) relationship with Mormon elites, this article introduces the category of "usefulness" to scholars who investigate how racially and religiously marginalized Americans have sought acceptance in the "white American republic." Washington's 1913 visit to Utah was the high point in a decade-long public campaign of mutual admiration. Washington and the Mormons' high regard for each other—an aberration in much of black-Mormon relations—was based on similar histories of discrimination at the hands of white Protestant Americans. It was also based on similar beliefs that to overcome their status as "problem" people, Washington-led blacks and Mormons had to prove their "usefulness"—a form of respectability politics—to themselves and to the American republic. To do so, they pointed to the fruits of their own and each other's usefulness: economic productivity, educational advancement, and middle-class mores. While these fruits were similar, the roots were different, and racialized. For the Mormons, usefulness arose from a post-polygamy Mormon religion through which they asserted their whiteness. For Washington, usefulness arose not from the "Negro" church—the only independent black institution in American history—but from educational institutions like Tuskegee, which promoted black advancement under the control of white supremacy. |
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| ISSN: | 1755-2613 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Church history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0009640719002488 |